Of course this a statement from a John White, a well documented liar, and an article from Will Sentell, who is rumored to be White’s pal outside of working hours, so it doesn’t surprise me that these figures are dishonest and not fact checked – not even a little.

Fortunately I had recently asked for the lists of LDOE and Recovery School District (RSD) employees. RSD is a branch of LDOE and directly overseen by LDOE. The true number of employees I came up with was 447 “DOE State Activities” employees, 117 Special School District Employees, and 108 RSD employees. That comes to 675 employees scattered across several divisions that report to John White, or more than twice the number White quoted to the Advocate – and Will Sentell dutifully reported.

From payroll file 1/23/2015

But what is one more lie?

LDOE employees with multiple offices

RSD no longer directly manages any schools, it just recruits them and “oversees” them. (New Schools for New Orleans is a non-profit that already does that.) RSD’s employees are actually extensions of the LDOE. Many LDOE employees live in New Orleans and have offices in Baton Rouge and luxury offices in New Orleans. Many of LDOE’s executive employees live in New Orleans and do all their work from the RSD offices across from the Superdome, or from the privacy of their homes – as their exorbitant conference call bills will attest to.

Sources have relayed that a non-exhaustive list of employees operating this way are:

· Katherine Westerhold

· Hannah Dietsch

· Alicja Witkowski

· Taina Knox

· Rebecca Kockler

· Kunjan Narechania

The truth behind LDOE state employee RIF’s (Reductions In Force)

Everyone knows that John White and Bobby Jindal have claimed they have cut back employees in state service, so I decided to verify that claim myself. I asked Civil Service for the payroll of LDOE as of 1/1/2012 and 1/31/2015. A direct comparison would lead one to believe that John White had reduced his employees. John White filed dozens of RIFs, or Reeducations In Force, during his tenure. However what you can’t tell from these files is that John White simply reclassified all of his IT positions as belonging to DOA instead of LDOE. Many of these folks still work at the Claiborne building where LDOE is housed in their same roles, they just are paid from the DOA budget although they still work for John White and LDOE on LDOE systems.

I asked for listing of these employees, but Civil Service has no way of identifying them. Therefore I excluded all the people from the IT area from my 12/31/2011 file so we could have an apples to apples comparison. These are the numbers I came up with as of 12/31/2011 excluding IT.

However this was when RSD actually staffed schools with teachers! Now almost all the RSD employees are unclassified operatives of John White. Many freely move back and forth between these agencies at will as I will show you later.

What this means is employees John White controls for day to day operations is down to 675 from around 697 – excluding IT and RSD employees. RSD actually had to run schools three years ago and most of those employees were teachers. Now RSD skims money from grants these schools receive and skims MFP funds to support their lavish lifestyle – as I will also get into later.

Next I wanted to find out what types of employees are left and how the workforce changed. Instead of support personnel for things like Special Education, most of LDOE was turned into a charter school recruiting office and assessment section. At first blush it would appear the number of unclassified positions decreased, however when you add in RSD unclassified positions you can see a dramatic increase in this type of unrestricted worker. Below are some distinctions between classified and unclassified employees. Please refer to this definition from Civil Service. I have summarized some of the differences below:

Unclassified state employees have no restrictions on salary or raises, can lobby legislators and donate to candidates, do not have need to have any specific qualifications, and are generally supposed to be restricted to just the heads of departments.

Classified state employees cannot engage in any political activity, or even the appearance of political activity. They cannot donate or endorse candidates and cannot even discuss these topics publicly without suffering sanctions or being fired. Raises for classified workers are tightly controlled and limited. Classified positions have specific sets of duties, education requirements, and experience requirements they must meet to qualify for positions. Classified workers cannot be promoted if they do not meet the requirements of their new position. The vast majority of state workers used to be considered “classified.”

Below are the basic positions defined in Civil Service that are supposed to be classified as unclassified.

Elected officials and person appointed to fill vacancies in elective offices.

The head of each principal executive department appointed by the Governor.

Registrars of voters.

Members of State boards, authorities, and commissions.

One private Secretary to the president of each college or university.

One person holding a confidential position and one principal assistant or deputy to any officer, board, commission or authority mentioned in (1), (2), (3), or (4), above, except the State Department of Civil Service.

Members of the military or naval forces; including those employees in the Military Department of the State of Louisiana who are members of the Louisiana National Guard or Louisiana State Guard, either active or retired.

The teaching and professional staffs, and administrative officers of schools, colleges, and universities of the State, and bona fide students of those institutions employed by any State agency.

Employees, deputies, and officers of the legislature and of the offices of the Governor, Lieutenant Governor, and Attorney General; and of police juries, school boards, and assessors; and of all offices provided for in Constitutional Article V.

Commissioners of elections, watchers, and custodians and deputy custodians of voting machines.

Railroad employees whose working conditions and retirement benefits are regulated by federal agencies in accordance with federal law.

Notaries Public.

All employees of the Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness.

Obviously unclassified employees are supposed to be restricted in number and held to a pretty high standard. Unclassified positions are supposed to be rare. The vast majority of state employees in Civil Service are supposed to be “classified” to prevent a return to the “spoils” system of governance in Louisiana; when most of the positions in state government we doled out based on who folks supported in elections. A classified state worker is loyal to the state, not a specific political party, candidate, or appointee. From information I’ve been given, John White reportedly did not like that arrangement and exploited Civil Service rules to simply drive off hundreds of classified state workers loyal to Louisiana and replace them with unclassified employees (mostly from out of state) loyal to him.

Of 108 positions at RSD today, 107 are unclassified.

What possible harm can come from converting our workforce from classified to unclassified? (Hint: New taxes!)

In case you were wondering how this arrangement works out in the real world consider this. RSD and its staff, in conjunction with the charter lobby, successfully PR’d the public in New Orleans last year to pass a tax that contributes 90% of the proceeds to RSD until 2025 (in additional to their state and federal funding and fees they charge charters.)

Shall the Orleans Parish School board (the “School Board”) levy a tax of four and ninety-seven hundredths mills on the dollar of the assessed valuation of property within the City of New Orleans assessed for City Taxation, (an estimated $15,540,000 reasonably expected at this time to be collected from the levy of the tax for an entire year), for a period of ten (10) years, beginning in 2015, for the purpose of preservation, improvement and capital repairs of all existing public school facilities, to be levied and collected in the same manner as is set forth in Article VIII, Section 13(C)(Second) of the Louisiana Constitution of 1974; provided that said tax is to be levied each calendar year at a millage rate not in excess of the difference between 4.97 mills and any millage levied in such calendar year for any outstanding general obligation bonds of the School Board?”

How will property taxes be extended and/or redirected to fund RSD?OPSB is expected to pay off school facility debt by 2021 using 4.97 mills of property tax previously approved by voters. The tax is expected to end in 2021, and the amount collected from voters will begin to decrease as the debt service decreases. If voters approve the proposition, the mills will be renewed and extended through 2025. The difference that is not applied to the debt service will be set aside for facility preservation, and RSD can begin to access the funds as early as 2016. The mills currently collect approximately $15.5 million each year. (Source: OPSB FAQ on Tax Proposition. )

In full effect and after OPSB has fulfilled its debt obligations, the non-elected RSD would receive 90% of the funding ($13,986,000) of property tax revenue. OPSB would receive the remaining portion of approximately $1,554,000.

What does RSD do with all their money?

What does RSD do with all its money you ask? Well for one thing, they like to rent luxury office space in downtown New Orleans across from the Superdome.

RSD takes up the entire 14th floor at 1615 Poydras street. Here is the floor plan of the suite right above them

Here are some of the images of the building and the amenities:

Encompassing 508,741 rentable square feet, the Class A Property is 85% leased and serves as the corporate headquarters for McMoRan Oil & Gas.

1615 Poydras accommodates an on-site restaurant, a barbershop and dry cleaning pick-up & delivery services. Our location in the Central Business District (CBD) directly across from the Mercedes-Benz Superdome, provides easy access to City Hall, hotels, Canal Street shopping and the historic French Quarter. Tenants enjoy easy walking distance to the NFL Saints Champion Square and the world-class Mercedes-Benz Superdome directly across the street.

Man, who wouldn’t want a drycleaners with pickup and delivery service and a barbershop in their office building?

Check out the gorgeous marble and mahogany floors and enormous meeting rooms overlooking the city.

Who knew being a state worker could be such a sweet deal, especially amidst a 1.6 billion dollar deficit?

But maybe there was a logistical reason for locating so close to the superdome in a luxury office building?

RSD claims this move makes them more accessible to families and parents.

The Recovery School District is a special district of the Louisiana Department of Education (LDOE) charged with transforming chronically underperforming schools in Louisiana. The organization’s mission is to ensure that all students graduate high school on-time and be college and career ready. Their move to 1615 Poydras provides a more centrally-located site in the Central Business District – closer to business and community partners [true] and more accessible for families and parents [not true]. Recovery School District also maintains three Parent Centers at various locations throughout the city.

But let’s be honest. This is move to put them closer to the Saints, not students. Right across the street in fact! RSD used to be located in a warehouse before John White came to town, where many of the parents actually lived.

Let’s compare.

RSD Pre-John White at 1641 Poland Avenue. Note the graffiti on neighboring buildings and less than august surroundings. . . but I bet the rent wasn’t too steep.

RSD – Post John White at 1616 Poydras street on the 14th floor across from the Mercedes Superdome. Who knew School Reforming could be so good?

So what if RSD is ripping us off. . . at least I get choices!?!?

Now when parents have problems they can’t actually reach anyone at RSD. RSD makes thousands of parents with enrollment problems line up all day in the hot sun every year while they try to fix the choices the One AP enrollment system selected for them.

Last year some parents waited in line all day only to be turned away and told to come back tomorrow.

In my district, East Baton Rouge Parish, I actually have choices and can apply to numerous schools and programs. I can choose to send my kids from among the schools I get into. In public schools I have the choice to send my kids to a Montessori program, magnet school, language immersion school, Arts integrated or Math Sciences and Arts school, a trade focused school, a charter school or just send my kids to the school down the street. I can apply to all of those choices and select the one I want based on the ones I can get approved for. In New Orleans you put your top 3 choices in, and maybe the computer selects one for you. If you don’t like the selection, or the selection scatters your kids all across town, you and thousands of other parents must queue in line all day to try and find a new school for your kids to attend.

That type of “choice” is more like Communism, than Capitalism folks. You know, where the state assigns you to a school and you line up for days to make simple changes to anything (and that’s on a good day.)

The free enterprise system charter supporters often tout as the cure-all for the ails of the public education system can’t work because bad or undesirable charters can stay in business when the few desirable schools run out of spots.

These groups claim to provide choice, but the choice belongs to RSD, to the state, not to the parents.

This is the future that awaits us as this “public/private” partnership proceeds.

Wow. Can RSD do anything right? Uh. . .

But that’s not the only form of waste at RSD.

RSD’s 100+ strong workforce loses more property and equipment each year than the rest of the state put together. About a million dollars a year at last tally. Here is a statement from the legislative auditor:

Statement: The Recovery School District reported more than 28 percent of its movable property missing in its 2014 inventory. Because of the large volume of missing inventory, [the Louisiana Property Assistance Agency] disapproved the agency’s property certification and completed an internal investigation on the losses. We have since reported our findings on the issue to the Attorney General and Legislative Auditor for further review

RSD and LDOE employees switch jobs fluidly because they are really the same agency now.

To see this in action let’s look at the curious case of Kunjan Narechania, who came to Louisiana and RSD with John White as his chief of staff. Then she went with John White to LDOE, and now is back at RSD but is paid from LDOE’s budget.

Recovery chief of staff Kunjan Narechania said the department has held off on finalizing the Dunbar agreement pending the John Mac and Livingston decisions; if Believe moves into John Mac, it would be moot. She added that the Recovery system does not typically have written agreements with charter programs about which buildings they will get, though “the process has been fairly inconsistent.”

Gotta’ love that freedom.

As you can see, RSD and LDOE employees are fluid and all report to John White. They certainly don’t oversee any schools, and I sure hope they aren’t trying very hard to look after property that is disappearing at a burn rate of a million dollars per year. So do we really need them to recruit charter schools in a 100% charter district?

Is RSD the future we want for Louisiana: a giant, unaccountable, exceptionally wasteful, state level agency who’s employees can lobby and donate to local and state officials for increases to its budget and power and which oversees all the schools in the state – instead of local school boards?

Is there a conclusion in here somewhere?

It is clear that RSD is not working. . . for parents or students. At a time of great financial crisis in our state, RSD is providing multiple luxury offices to its staff members so they don’t have the inconvenience of driving into Baton Rouge – where they really are supposed to work.

Louisiana is facing a 1.6 billion dollar shortfall this year, while some state DOE employees are assigned multiple offices (luxury offices). Based on my calculations, Bobby Jindal is probably right to recommend 100 employees be reduced at the department of education. John White has actually maintained his staffing level at LDOE via RSD over the last 3 years (while increasing his overall payroll by eliminating classified positions and replacing them with unclassified positions.) The payroll at RSD alone is 1/4th of the entire payroll at LDOE for 1/5th of the employees. Many of John White’s employees swap back and forth for budgeting reasons but, they all ultimately report to White.

RSD is the past, and it needs to be left in the past, and now is the time to do it.

John White claims he needs to start discussions and meetings to determine where to make layoffs. I actually have 108 employees to recommend eliminating right now (or maybe 109 depending on where Kunjan actually works). It’s time to eliminate the RSD.

That is a real choice that would be good for just about everybody.

]]>https://crazycrawfish.wordpress.com/2015/03/02/at-a-time-of-deep-budget-cuts-it-is-time-to-cut-the-recovery-school-district-rsd/feed/1012414_2232_GuestBlogge2.pngcrazycrawfishimageimageclip_image001clip_image003imageclip_image003clip_image005clip_image006imageOpt-Out parents and children being harassed and terrorized across Louisianahttps://crazycrawfish.wordpress.com/2015/03/01/opt-out-parents-and-children-being-harassed-and-terrorized-across-louisiana/
https://crazycrawfish.wordpress.com/2015/03/01/opt-out-parents-and-children-being-harassed-and-terrorized-across-louisiana/#commentsSun, 01 Mar 2015 23:04:25 +0000http://crazycrawfish.wordpress.com/?p=2982Continue reading →]]>For the past several weeks I’ve been getting reports from parents in different parishes across the state of Louisiana describing how their school systems are handling parents choosing to opt their children out of the PARCC test. The opt-out movement started in part because parents have gotten fed up with all the testing parishes are doing in place of teaching, and have chosen to have their voices heard by taking a stand against this abusive practice by refusing to have their children tested in the secret and unknown test that Superintendent John White secretly procured, or produced with in-house staff. (For simplicity’s stake I will refer to it as the PARCC test, although Louisiana is not currently a PARCC participant and has no direct contract with the vendor that produces and grades the PARCC exam. )

Testing has gotten out of control in public education in our country. Some parishes may given dozens of different standardized tests to students throughout the year. Some of these tests help teachers identify weak areas to focus on for particular students. Some tests, like NAEP, are assigned to students randomly, in small groups, and districts do not spend time “prepping” students for them. Most parents are not as concerned with those tests. The test category that has gained much in popularity, complexity, and overuse is the High Stakes test. These tests are not used to help individual students that take them, they are designed to grade and evaluate teachers, schools and school districts. Principals can be fired, teachers can be fired, schools can be taken over or closed, and entire school districts can be chopped apart and sold to the highest bidder. Conversely, principals, teachers and schools can be recognized and even rewarded for top performances on this test. This arrangement drives the actual curriculum being taught. This arrangement has resulted in some horrible situations in our schools.

I have had multiple reports from parents in Central School district, Rapides Parish and Terrebonne describing how the school year basically ends after the Winter break and constant test prep begins. A large portion, or entire portion, of class days are spent taking practice PARCC tests and reviewing sample PARCC questions. Sometimes children are sent home with tests to practice at home. Sometimes children are send home with all of their other subject material they could not cover in class because of all the time spent on test prep. This obsession with pursuing higher and higher scores has crowded out Social Studies, Reading, PE, Art, Music, Computer Lab, Foreign Language and Science. Those are subjects which are not used in High Stakes testing and not valued as highly, so they have been dispensed with in many schools, or relegated to homework assignments sent home and not reviewed in class.

Regardless of whether we have Common Core or not, the testing craze has got to stop. Education is more than just a math and ELA score, at least to most parents. John White actually told LDOE in his first address to the department that in his opinion education is only about Math and ELA scores. It appears he has gotten his wish.

BESE and LDOE have refused to weigh in on this subject publicly. However privately I’ve learned that LDOE is sending sending out e-mails and making phone calls to districts to suggest ways to bully or bribe parents into not opting out or changing their minds. This has led to some crazy and irresponsible messages from schools across the state being sent to parents and children. Because there is no authoritative guidelines or ruling on this issue, some districts are behaving badly.

When I go to speak with folks about my campaign I spend a lot of the time trying to dispel myths and reassure parents:

that their children will not be haunted with zeros for the rest of their lives

that they will not be held back next year, that they will not be kept out of advanced work or honors programs

that they will not be kept out of extracurricular activities.

I also get contacted through my Facebook page, blog and e-mail with questions and concerns. I don’t mind doing this of course, but it seems pretty obvious that LDOE and BESE are shirking their duties here.

Some parishes and principals are being downright spiteful. Take this note from Principal Carol Shelton in Calcasieu Parish.

DES Testing Incentives

In the past, we have given a 30 minute recess to the entire school when we were 100% tested. Due to the few “opt outs” that I have received, we will no longer be able to do that. So. . . . we will give a 30 minute recess to all the classes that are 100% tested.

In the past we have given a “free dress” for all students that scored basic and above, we can’t do that this year because test results will not be available until the fall. So…. . every student that is ‘on time,’completes each day of testing, and tries their best will receive a “free dress” sticker.

She appears to be taunting the parents who are opting their kids out by sending a letter home that it will be the fault of the kids who opted out if the rest of their class doesn’t get a 30 minute recess. I’m pretty sure this will make the kids opting out the least liked kids in the school and the subject of taunting and bullying. Carol also makes a claim that they give free dress passes for top scorers, so you can identify the dummies from the smart kids I guess? Way to be Carol. Humiliating the struggling kids in your school is what good principals do. Obviously you take your school slogan to heart “Developing and nurturing the greatness within each of us!” (I wonder if there is a second part to this slogan that involves crapping on everyone else?)

One last thing Carol; ellipses. . . you’re doing them wrong. I hope those aren’t on the PARCC exam because you’d fail…. …… .

(I’m probably doing lots of stuff wrong but I ain’t no principal of a school neither.)

In West Baton Rouge Parish the system Superintendent is demanding parents meet with him during working hours on the test days, then take their kids home during the testing, and then bring them back after the testing. It’s not clear why this policy is defined this way. It appears to be little more than an extra hurdle designed to intimidate and inconvenience parents instead of just having the kids attend a study hall or get in some time at the library.

Some other reports I’ve received involved drawings for free iPads and other prizes for students taking these tests, a teacher telling a student who opted out that his mother thinks he’s too dumb to pass the PARCC exam and that that if students like him don’t shape up the Chinese will overrun us , threats of sending truancy officers after parents who keep their kids home, and PR pieces that warn parents if their school’s scores drop their property values will go down.

BESE and LDOE need to put a stop to this nonsense by issuing clear guidance to districts on how to handle these situations. They are the ones imposing these tests on the children and parents in our state, they should be the ones to clean up the mess. It’s kinda’ in their job description. They also need to place a ban on test prep. How meaningful can these tests be if some districts are gaming the system by force feeding PARCC down children’s throats while other districts are trying to educate their kids? If this strategy works even a little bit will the takeaway be that all districts should eliminate all subjects but ELA and Math test prep and start on the first day of “school”? Maybe we could swap out summer reading lists for summer test prep instead? That will show the Chinese!

]]>https://crazycrawfish.wordpress.com/2015/03/01/opt-out-parents-and-children-being-harassed-and-terrorized-across-louisiana/feed/9crazycrawfishbribery-bullyimageOpen letter from “BESE 4″ in response to recent Common Core events.https://crazycrawfish.wordpress.com/2015/02/26/open-letter-from-bese-4-in-response-to-recent-common-core-events/
https://crazycrawfish.wordpress.com/2015/02/26/open-letter-from-bese-4-in-response-to-recent-common-core-events/#commentsThu, 26 Feb 2015 14:12:57 +0000http://crazycrawfish.wordpress.com/?p=2975Continue reading →]]>I am publishing an open letter from 4 BESE members in response to recent actions of John White and recent editorials from 4 confused legislators that support Common Core, but don’t understand that even if they “review” it, it cannot be changed if the review finds anything lacking. Common Core supporters have occasionally claimed that up to 15% more content can be supplemented or added to Common Core, but it cannnot be altered in any way. If have seen nothing official from the patent holders of Common Core affirming this claim. Recent presentations from commoncore.org strongly advise against altering it in any way because it is paced to not permit any time for anything extra.

Jason France (BESE Candidate, district 6)

At the request of LA Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) RepresentativeJane Smith and others, I am forwarding this Letter to the Editor,or possible Op-Ed piece, to your publication. It is significant in that it is signed by four BESE members and 28 current state legislators.

This unique group, working as a consensus-building block of state elected officials, has composed this “Open Letter to the citizens of Louisiana.” They point out the areas of agreement between those opposed to the national Common Core standards and the aligned test PARCC, and those who support the national standards and test, and tend to agree more with the state superintendent.

Following on the heels of this week’s media announcement by the state superintendent, giving his recommendations to address issues of concern with the national standards, this group of BESE members and state legislators focuses on agreeable solutions that will work and be acceptable with both the state and the parents and public school systems across Louisiana.

This introduction of a “REAL Louisiana Plan” precedes the opening of the 2015 Spring Legislative Session, and provides a foundation on which all sides can build.

– Mary K. Bellisario

_________________________________________________

“A REAL Louisiana Plan”

An open letter to the citizens of Louisiana:

The past few days have seen some very encouraging developments concerning public education in Louisiana, and we are optimistic that more important work can and will be accomplished over the next few months for the best interests of the children of our state.

On Monday, Superintendent John White openly acknowledged some of the problems with Common Core in Louisiana, proposed three new recommendations for consideration of the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE), and agreed that Louisiana should have its own K-12 education standards.

Two days earlier, a letter by four Common Core supporters in the Legislature was published statewide making similar recommendations and calling for BESE to “continue the Louisiana plan” for education reforms. These are positive steps, and we look forward to working together during the upcoming legislative session to make critical adjustments to ensure that a REAL Louisiana plan advances.

Superintendent White has suggested that BESE needs to review the state’s academic standards as early as this fall, and we agree. Indeed, his suggestion that BESE should convene a commission of Louisiana educators, parents and university leaders to assist in a comprehensive review is one that we have long advocated. However, we note there will be no point in engaging such a review if the stakeholders here are limited by the existing Common Core State Standards Initiative that was developed elsewhere. Since no more than 15% of the Common Core Standards can be altered or changed by participating states, it seems obvious that our mutual goal of improving Louisiana standards cannot be reached so long as we remain participants in Common Core.

With regard to student assessment, Superintendent White has suggested that our Department of Education should follow the Administrative Procedures Act and allow a transparent bid process for vendors to propose a test that is “unique to Louisiana while comparable to other states.” We certainly agree and have been advocating this for nearly a year. However, we note it will be impossible to obtain bids for a new test if its underlying standards are not yet decided. It would thus be unwise to rush into a new testing contract without having these foundational questions answered first.

We agree with Superintendent White and our colleagues who have now acknowledged that atwo year baseline of testing results is needed before any sanctions are placed on our students, teachers, schools and districts. Our teachers and districts work extremely hard to comply with every state mandate, and this delay will greatly reduce the stresses related to implementation. Superintendent White has been very vocal on this point, and we agree that no hardworking teacher, principal, or district should be punished based on decisions made outside their control.

Parents and teachers have voiced their concerns loudly across this state and nation, and we elected officials should be listening. Indeed, that is our duty. The people of our state are understandably wary of all tests, textbooks and curriculum that are aligned to national standards, because such an alignment is always accompanied by the dangers of federal intrusion and wasteful spending that brings no benefit to our kids.

Superintendent White also acknowledged this week that we are “over-testing” our students and thus, “We all need to eliminate any tests that are not meaningfully contributing to student learning.” We certainly agree, and it is our belief that the current test aligned with Common Core and PARCC is one of the problems that should be eliminated here once and for all—as other states have already done.

Again, we reiterate our optimism about these critical points on which more and more state leaders now agree. We look forward to working with all in good faith to ensure that in the very near future we are truly developing a REAL Louisiana Plan for the children of our great state. They deserve it, and the stakes are too high for us to deliver anything less.

Best regards,

Jane Smith, BESE, member at large

Bossier Parish

Mary Harris BESE, District 4

Dr. Lottie Beebe, BESE, District 3

Carolyn Hill, BESE, District 8

Representative James Armes, District 30

Representative Terry Brown, District 22

Representative Richard Burford, District 7

Representative Henry Burns, District 9

Representative Greg Cromer, District 90

Representative Brett Geymann, District 35

Representative Lance Harris, District 25

Representative Kenny Havard, District 62

Representative Cameron Henry, District 82

Representative Bob Hensgens, District 47

Representative Valarie Hodges, District 64

Representative Frank Hoffman, District 15

Representative Paul Hollis, District 104

Representative Frank Howard, District 24

Representative Mike Johnson, District 8

Representative Eddie Lambert, District 59

Representative Jim Morris, District 1

Representative Kevin Pearson, District 76

Representative Rogers Pope, District 71

Representative John Schroder,District 77

Representative Alan Seabaugh, District 5

Representative Lenar Whitney, District 53

Senator A.G. Crowe, District 1

Senator Bob Kostelka, District 35

Senator Elbert Guillory, District 24

Senator Fred Mills, District 22

Senator Jonathan Perry, District 26

Senator John Smith, District 30

]]>https://crazycrawfish.wordpress.com/2015/02/26/open-letter-from-bese-4-in-response-to-recent-common-core-events/feed/3crazycrawfishThe View from Japan: Common Core is a Disaster in the Makinghttps://crazycrawfish.wordpress.com/2015/02/20/the-view-from-japan-common-core-is-a-disaster-in-the-making/
https://crazycrawfish.wordpress.com/2015/02/20/the-view-from-japan-common-core-is-a-disaster-in-the-making/#commentsFri, 20 Feb 2015 18:24:22 +0000http://crazycrawfish.wordpress.com/2015/02/20/the-view-from-japan-common-core-is-a-disaster-in-the-making/Creative by Nature: “What many supporters of Common Core ignore is that the “rigorous” high-stakes testing approach that they wish to impose on our children has been experimented with in many other nations, and has been a complete failure.…]]>

“What many supporters of Common Core ignore is that the “rigorous” high-stakes testing approach that they wish to impose on our children has been experimented with in many other nations, and has been a complete failure. Once in place it dominates all instruction, turning schools into test prep factories, and students into test-taking machines.”

I’m a full-time University teacher, living and working in Japan since 1994. We had our entrance exams a few weeks ago, and part of the job for University teachers here is to mark certain sections of the tests by hand. One of the things I notice each year is that most Japanese students get 30 to 50% of the answers wrong.

Sometimes answers are close but test markers are looking for the “exact” right answer. If the student spells a word wrong they may receive half credit or no points. Why are we so strict with spelling? Because these kinds of high-stakes tests are designed to select and sort…

]]>https://crazycrawfish.wordpress.com/2015/02/20/the-view-from-japan-common-core-is-a-disaster-in-the-making/feed/0crazycrawfishAn Educational Titanic, A Louisiana Edsel: Stand for Children Defends PARCChttps://crazycrawfish.wordpress.com/2015/02/19/an-educational-titanic-a-louisiana-edsel-stand-for-children-defends-parcc/
https://crazycrawfish.wordpress.com/2015/02/19/an-educational-titanic-a-louisiana-edsel-stand-for-children-defends-parcc/#commentsThu, 19 Feb 2015 18:16:59 +0000http://crazycrawfish.wordpress.com/2015/02/19/an-educational-titanic-a-louisiana-edsel-stand-for-children-defends-parcc/VPBarras:A spurious web page is circulating throughout Louisiana from Louisiana branch of the organization Stand For Children. On this page, they warn that some parents are trying to convince other parents to pull their children from the…]]>

A spurious web page is circulating throughout Louisiana from Louisiana branch of the organization Stand For Children. On this page, they warn that some parents are trying to convince other parents to pull their children from the upcoming PARCC tests. They urge parents to ignore these pleas and let the students take the tests because it’s the right thing to do for students.

“Parents with the courage to recognize an educational Titanic when they see one are wisely removing their kids from an untested experiment.”

Stand for Children, you want to do the right thing for students? How’s this for starters?

How about declaring how much money your organization accepted from the Bill Gates Foundation, the financial heart of Common Core and its accompanying tests. Savvy parents don’t accept anything at face value, and parents can’t trust you if they don’t know who paid for you. Transparency is all that they…

]]>https://crazycrawfish.wordpress.com/2015/02/19/an-educational-titanic-a-louisiana-edsel-stand-for-children-defends-parcc/feed/2crazycrawfishOverprepping and Overtesting in Louisianahttps://crazycrawfish.wordpress.com/2015/02/18/overprepping-and-overtesting-in-louisiana/
https://crazycrawfish.wordpress.com/2015/02/18/overprepping-and-overtesting-in-louisiana/#commentsThu, 19 Feb 2015 02:52:07 +0000http://crazycrawfish.wordpress.com/?p=2968Continue reading →]]>I just received this letter from a parent named Stephanie Riley in Rapides Parish. This letter echos the sentiments expressed by many parents across the state that I spoken with this year and last year. Education has been replaced with test preparation. It’s a disgrace, and a reason many parents have abandonded public schools and started homeschooling their children.

If any folks in the traditional media would like to interview a mother that sees her children’s futures being stripped away in pursuit of a meaningless “score”, Stephanie would be a good person to contact.

The results of this test won’t measure what children learned, merely which parish wasted the most time on test preparation. Ironically districts with the highest test scores may have the least “educated” children.

This isn’t just about Common Core anymore, now it’s about Common Sense, and a lack thereof being shown by many of our current educational leaders.

To whom it may concern,

As a parent of 2 children in the Rapides parish school system in Louisiana I have finally reached the end of my rope. This letter is being sent to multiple individuals throughout Louisiana (and outside the state) for a reason. I have had enough and I want a response. Since returning from the Christmas holidays my children have done absolutely nothing but practice and prepare for the PARCC – like test. First, let me make it perfectly clear that both of my children have been opted out of this test. In this situation however, that is irrelevant. They have both been sitting in a classroom all day for the last 6 weeks training to take a test!They, and most every other child in this state grades 3 – 8 are been denied their right to a Free and Appropriate Public Education. Did you catch that? Federal law – F.A.P.E – is being broken. Drill and kill for ANY standardized test is NOT an appropriate education, which I pay for with my taxes. I have questioned both of my children about activities in the classroom. While there is definitely a focus on testing for my third grader, it is even worse for my sixth grader. He has told me that they will no longer be using the textbook or stories from the curriculum this parish chose because neither addresses the ELA items on the PARCC – like test. Instead, they work every single day on practice writings for the PARCC – like exam. Half of an entire school year wasted with no reading! And my third grader has only used her reading textbook a few times since January. Third graders not reading!! This is NOT a teacher issue. Teachers throughout this entire parish are being instructed to drill and kill. Practice, practice, practice! Test scores are what matter, not children.

Well, I am just a mom, so it has been easy for our school administrators to ignore me. Although I have had many positive interactions with our school board members (they do at least appear concerned) nothing has been accomplished and I feel as if we are all just trying to make it to the end of the school year. But that means that the children of Rapides parish are missing out. They are going to lose a minimum of a half of a year’s worth of instructional time (due to testing practice), and for some an entire year due to classroom instruction that has not been supported through the use of appropriate instructional materials. I am now reaching beyond our local administrators and will continue to reach beyond until someone listens. I am one of MANY parents with these concerns and we are not going away.

I have already expressed my concerns locally that adequate instructional materials have not been provided for the math curriculum (Eureka), and now we have the same problem with the ELA material currently being taught in the classroom. Louisiana Title 28 Bulletin 1794 states that;

“§505. Local Implementation (of instructional materials)

A. Adequate and Appropriate Instructional Materials

1. Textbooks and materials of instruction for all curriculum areas at the local level shall be supported with adequate and appropriate instructional materials, equipment, and available community resources that support the stated philosophy and purposes of the school system”

where instructional materials are defined as;

“Instructional Materialslimited to items having intellectual content that by design assist in the instruction of a subject or course.”

Currently, neither of my children is in receipt of instructional materials in either math or ELA. Worksheets, practice pages in a binder, class room activities, etc… do not meet the definition of instructional materials under state law. I want my children to go back to a normal instructional environment in the classroom where emphasis on statewide testing is left where it belongs – on testing days. I want them to be TAUGHT not TRAINED! Let their teachers teach them! At least I know that they actually care about the well-being of my children!

Finally, I want clear, printed instructional materials for both of my children grades 3 and 6 for both the Eureka math curriculum and the Journey’s curriculum. These were the curriculums chosen by Rapides parish for this school year and if they are to be used then they should be supported in the classroom. There are no instructional materials for Eureka other than a “binder” that is filled with copies of computer print outs of classroom and homework practice problems. Textbooks were not purchased or provided by the district for this curriculum.

The ELA Journey’s curriculum has a textbook for each grade level and we received a copy of this at the start of the school year. However, this curriculum has been abandoned since the beginning of January in order to focus on practice for the PARCC – like exam. The provision of public education is not for the purpose of passing a single test (a test which is unproven and is not supported by ANY valid research I might add). Therefore, I also want my children to return to their regular educational and instructional activities in the classroom.

Should you have any questions I can be reached at this email address or at the cell phone number listed below. I look forward to a response as soon as possible.

Respectfully,

Stephanie Riley,

cell# 504-669-0803

]]>https://crazycrawfish.wordpress.com/2015/02/18/overprepping-and-overtesting-in-louisiana/feed/9crazycrawfishKeeping it in Perspective.https://crazycrawfish.wordpress.com/2015/02/18/keeping-it-in-perspective/
https://crazycrawfish.wordpress.com/2015/02/18/keeping-it-in-perspective/#commentsThu, 19 Feb 2015 01:57:14 +0000http://crazycrawfish.wordpress.com/2015/02/18/keeping-it-in-perspective/Dad Gone Wild:This week Metro Nashville School Board Member Jill Speering wrote a Facebook post that started with the following question: At last week’s meeting, an MNPS Board member suggested that there are 35,00o seats in…]]>

This week Metro Nashville School Board Member Jill Speering wrote a Facebook post that started with the following question:

At last week’s meeting, an MNPS Board member suggested that there are 35,00o seats in Metro Schools that lack “quality” so I’ve been thinking about this language and what this term means. What do we mean by student “success”? What do we mean by “quality” seats?

It’s a question that I wrestle with on a regular basis. As I’ve previously mentioned, I have two small children. My daughter, Avery, is 5 and half, (that half is extremely important to her), and a four-year-old named Peter . Six years ago when my wife was pregnant, we had many conversations about how we wanted to raise our children. We both agreed that we wanted independent, intellectually curious, verbal children who would be equipped to stand up for themselves and navigate the uncertainty that is life. Well, guess…

Tuesday, February 24th, I will be in Houma (approximately 6 – 9pm) presenting on Common Core, my campaign, and the corruption at LDOE during Superintendent John White’s tenure. Precise Time and location to be determined.

Tuesday, March 2nd, I will be visiting the EBR PEC (Parish Executive Committee) to discuss my campaign and take feedback. If you are interested in checking out the Libertarian Party, come on by. Precise Time and location to be determined.

Saturday, March 7th, I will only be quasi-political. I was invited to participate at the Hammond Regional Art Center’s Celebration of the Written Word as part of a panel of bloggers from 11 to 11:50 am. I’m sure I will have a little time before and afterwards to chat if you are in the area. (I wish I could spend the day here but I have other commitments.)

Tuesday, March 10th, I will be visiting the Livingston PEC (Parish Executive Committee) to discuss my campaign and take feedback. If you are interested in checking out the Libertarian Party, come on by. From 7 to 9 pm at Big Mike’s Sports Bar and Grill

Monday, April 6th, I will be visiting the Tangipahoa PEC (Parish Executive Committee) to discuss my campaign and take feedback. If you are interested in checking out the Libertarian Party, come on by. Precise Time and location to be determined.

My district encompasses the eastern part of East Baton Rouge, Ascension, Livingston, Tangipahoa, and Washington parishes.

I probably have over 600,000 folks to contact before October 24. I need your help, your support, and your money, if you’ve got some to spare. . .

Canvassing is tentatively slated to start in late April or May. If you’ve already signed up we will be contacting you to verify your continued interest. We are looking for team leaders in the area if you have some experience (but no experience necessary! Enthusiasm counts for a lot around here.)

Before we can effectively canvass we need to purchase materials for distribution, voter registration rolls, signs, etc. This takes money, and lots of it.

We can take PayPal, most credit cards and you can even just mail a check. (Please make sure checks include full name and address for reporting purposes.)

We can’t reach most people by blog or Facebook, but we need your help to spread our message there as well! E-mail lists work great too. Spam your contacts with our info (and personally pester your rich eccentric uncles for donations) and your Democracy will thank you for it.

And remember, if you don’t live in my district you can’t vote for me, but you can still contribute as often and as much as you want! (Fine Print: Up to a max of 5000 dollars for the primary and 5000 dollars for any runoff.)

]]>https://crazycrawfish.wordpress.com/2015/02/17/our-2015-bese-campaign-for-district-6-is-really-underway/feed/6crazycrawfishThe Seabaugh Solution Apology and Explanationhttps://crazycrawfish.wordpress.com/2015/02/13/the-seabaugh-solution-apology-and-explanation/
https://crazycrawfish.wordpress.com/2015/02/13/the-seabaugh-solution-apology-and-explanation/#commentsSat, 14 Feb 2015 02:27:07 +0000http://crazycrawfish.wordpress.com/?p=2960Continue reading →]]>VAM (Valued Added Modeling) is garbage. It does not work. Louisiana’s system is especially flawed. The underlying premise behind VAM is also flawed, and no VAM assessment (good or bad) should be trusted. Before I wrote about the Seabaugh Solution I wrote numerous articles about this.

I probably have have dozens of articles where I discuss the fallacies of VAM. Others around our state have written dozens more. As a data analyst by trade myself, this misuse and misapplication of data is especially infuriating.

Recently, a series of articles I wrote about an Louisiana Department of Education conspiracy to adjust the entire VAM system to benefit 3 teachers in Caddo was rediscovered, and made popular, but without all the backstory and context. (I hope those that are promoting that story will also promote this one.)

This conspiracy was actually named the Seabaugh Solution by John White’s staff. John White, and several of his executive TFA staffers recruited from out of state, carried out this deception after discovering it was flagging our best teachers as our worst teachers. Please let this sink in. They understood that VAM was identifying our best teachers as our worst teachers, and they have continued to promote this charade to this day. Their behavior is well into the loathsome territory here, folks.

A number of native Louisiana citizens working at the department at the time were outraged by this perversion of the VAM system. They could not have disclosed it without jeopardizing their jobs and careers. Nevertheless, at great personal risk to themselves, they notified me and fellow blogger Tom Aswell, at Louisiana Voice, so we could alert the public to this travesty being perpetrated against our teachers. Please read Tom’s story for more specific details and background.

My intent was never to involve the specific teachers. (VAM only has a 25% accuracy rate at best.) Internally these teachers were sometimes referred to as ineffective by VAM calculations, and by other less flattering terms. However the truth is in fact the exact opposite. I was trying to make an ironic point by referring to them as “crappy” when both John White and Alan Seabaugh knew, or claimed to know, the exact opposite was true. The students of these teachers scored consistently at the top – for the entire state. These teachers initially labels as “ineffective” were in actuality some our best teachers. VAM had classified them as our worst.

Legislators need to understand this and ban VAM from being used in the future for any punitive purpose. They are knowingly persecuting and hanging innocent teachers in a politically motivated witch hunt that is none of their business in the first place. LDOE is a state agency and not them employer of these teachers. LDOE should not be making judgments about them from afar; especially based solely on a few pieces of data that were never meant for the purpose they are being used.

Sadly, these truly outstanding teachers were not alone. Many teachers across the state are classified as ineffective because their students scored so well it was impossible for them to improve. Others were classified as horrible because they were teaching some of our most disabled, neglected, homeless, limited English, and poverty stricken kids and learning and improvement is not always linear. VAM assumes all kids will improve at a completely linear rate regardless of teacher or circumstances and teachers are responsible for any and all deviation from that rate. That’s just ridiculous assumption. Furthermore, for a child to contribute the maximum points to each teacher ever your would require exponential improvement; which is impossible. These tests have a finite range. You can’t improve beyond 100%. As illustrated by the need for the Seabaugh Solution, for VAM to work for teachers with students performing in the upper ranges, the tests would need to have no upper boundary, they would have to be worth an infinite amount of points.

LOS ANGELES — Colleagues of Rigoberto Ruelas were alarmed when he failed to show up for work one day in September. They described him as a devoted teacher who tutored students before school, stayed with them after and, on weekends, took students from his South Los Angeles elementary school to the beach.

When his body was found in a ravine in the Angeles National Forest, and the coroner ruled it a suicide, Mr. Ruelas’s death became a flash point, drawing the city’s largest newspaper into the middle of the debate over reforming the nation’s second-largest school district.

When The Los Angeles Times released a database of “value-added analysis” of every teacher in the Los Angeles Unified School District in August, Mr. Ruelas was rated “less effective than average.” Colleagues said he became noticeably depressed, and family members have guessed that the rating contributed to his death.

I was actually trying to highlight a real problem for out teachers across the state. I am trying to prevent more, Rigoberto Ruelas tragedies, in our state. Great teachers labeled have been and continue to be labeled as terrible by a terribly inaccurate and unjust data system.

Part of the problem is how the state has expanded its reach into places it has no business being in. The state needs to get out of our local classrooms. It is not helping. John White’s department of Education is tearing our teachers and students down while claiming it is building them up. As your teachers what they think about the LDOE’s involvement in their classrooms. As the Seabaugh Solution shows, even LDOE can’t trust LDOE’s own data. John White even said this in his conversation with Alan Seabaugh.

I beg you, please do not refer to these teachers as crappy, inferior, ineffective, or anything other than mistreated by a system I was trying to expose as outrageously unfair, dehumanizing and debasing. The legislature may not have understood this at the time, but they should understand this now. Anyone who supports VAM is attacking our teachers and children for political points. It’s not a coincidence that a psychologist, and not a professor of mathematics, designed and endorses this system. It’s not just that VAM is “a little off”, it’s actually completely backwards and entirely unreliable.

The outrage here is that John White and his executive staff fully understood the implications of what they were told. Top teachers were being lambasted and shamed by an unjust data system. John White knew his staff tried dozens of ways to calculate the VAM numbers and could not find a credible way to prevent some of our greatest teachers from being classified as “crappy” so White gave these teachers “bonus points” as he often does for charter schools he’s trying to save from his accountability system, which is also flawed.

Initial supporters of VAM may have had the best of intentions, but VAM is not the answer and never will be because the underlying premise is flawed. VAM is victimizing our teachers.

Instead of conceding this, LDOE and John White simply added bonus points to certain teachers and shifted the curve downward to classify a new set of teachers as ineffective. This new set of teachers might have been outstanding too, but they did not have an Alan Seabaugh willing or able to speak for them.

The State needs to discard VAM once and for all. Not only is evaluating teachers none of their business, LDOE and John White are knowingly doing a horrible job, and playing favorites in the process.

My deepest apologies to the teachers involved. My intention was to highlight the flaws in VAM to prevent what happened to you from happening to others.

Not all tests are bad for you or your children. Vision tests can help doctors discover if your children need eye glasses. Requiring driving tests help everyone not get run over by people who didn’t take vision tests.

In education there are two very different types of testing that can be loosely classified as summative and formative. Summative tests, like PARCC and the ACT, determine what a person knows at a certain point in time (or has been coached into storing in short term memory). They are not intended to be used as a tool for future learning. Formative testing is used to guide future learning. Formative tests are designed to provide immediate feedback that can be used to help teachers identify knowledge gaps and misunderstandings and to drive future individualized learning plans for their students.

Louisiana’s premier summative test iscalled PARCC by the State Superintendent John White. The idea behind giving the PARCC exam to Louisiana children is not to help children learn; the assessment scores don’t get released until 6 or 7 months of learning later. These assessments are designed to inform the state which schools are delivering the highest scores on these tests, and which teachers seem to be having the greatest impact on these scores.

PARCC tests are very long. They are much more expensive than the previous LEAP and iLEAP tests Louisiana used previously. Test prep for them is often very excessive and detracts from real long-term learning. Louisiana does not even have a contract to provide the real PARCC test even if it wanted to.

What this means it that for this year Louisiana is planning to give a “mystery test” they identify as PARCC (for political reasons) that is not comparable to anything we have done previously. This is a test which will not be comparable to a test given in any other state and a test we are very unlikely to use in the future. For this year it is time to park plans for standardized testing. The parents I’ve spoken with want education to be about learning, not summative testing to evaluate a child’s teacher or school. Parents can register their objections to this type of testing (in lieu of teaching) by refusing to allow their children to participate, or “opting out.” It is time for a change. It is time to move on.